To qualify for the
painting competition, your entry could be
anything not previously entered at NCMSS.
I had planned to take my whole collection with me, but
Mother Nature had another idea!

You see, most of my best minis were on a shelf above my
desk at work. The day before the show, I planned to
bring them home with me, but due to flooding from a tropical storm, my workplace was closed, and I couldn't
retrieve them. My orc family diorama was the only one
I had at home that was show-worthy, so it's the only one I
brought.

Lucky for me, the judges
considered it good enough for a gold, so I didn't go home empty-handed!

LOCAL
TALENT

NCMSS was held in Northern Virginia, and was a great place to chat with local talent.
The show was just a short one-hour drive from my home,
and the club meets monthly, but I had never heard of them
before a local painter told me about it. I'm
glad I went!

I met several other artists there whom I'd only known
from online forums, but I was happy to put faces
to the names, and get to know them in person.

HISTORICAL GENRE

As the name implies, the NCMSS is focuses primarily on
historical miniatures, but they've broadened their scope in
recent years to embrace fantasy and science fiction
miniature painters.

The gymnasium was chock-full of vendors selling
miniatures, scenic elements, wooden basing blocks, and more.
I snagged a couple of really great deals. I got a 54mm
Andrea Miniatures Rob Roy for $6 (normally $19-20), and a
Warhammer Citadel Orion, King in the Woods for just ten
bucks (Games Workshop sells that one for $38!). My son
in his cuteness managed to pick up a Star Wars AT-ST for
FREE, and was given an extra wooden block base when I
purchased two for myself.

Kids 12 and under got into the show for free, and there
were two children's Paint and Take sessions. My two
participated in both, and had a terrific time.

Here's my painting friend Tim and his wife, plus some
other shots of artists at the show. The photo of me
was taken by my kids when I let them run around with my
camera for a while. (Hence the short angle). I
wish I'd taken more pictures of the painters, but the timing
just never seemed right.

And now for the Exhibitor's Miniatures! Since this
was primarily a historical minis show, I'll give you those
first, followed by the sci-fi-fantasy entries. I took
these with a flash, and those of you familiar with the hobby
will know that photographs never do a figure justice, and
flash photos are the worst, so picture these all in your
mind looking much better than they do here.